Right Here Waiting For You

“Let’s sit there, Inky.”

“Little kid, your brother is not a student at the preschool. He can’t board the school bus,” said the fat driver as he raised his arm to stop Li Yanmo, dressed in his blue-and-white school uniform.

Tiantian pouted unhappily. What was wrong with this fat uncle? How dare he try to stop her Inky!

Miss Mi, who was also on the school bus, walked over and shot a look at the driver. Unfortunately, the driver didn’t catch the hint and thought she was complimenting him for abiding by the rules.

As a result, he became even fiercer. Pointing at Li Yanmo, he said to him, “You. Yeah, you. What are you waiting for? Get off the bus, now.”

Li Yanmo frowned in displeasure. Just as he was about to say something, Ning Tiantian stood in front of him and glared at the driver. “Fat uncle, how dare you bully my Inky? You have to go through me to get to him.”

Was she protecting him?

The look in Li Yanmo’s eyes softened, even as his lips trembled.

The fat uncle was feeling somewhat awkward at being confronted by a three-year-old. He was just adhering to school policy. Surely that didn’t make him a bully.

Miss Mi tapped the driver’s shoulder in resignation, before advising, “Don’t say anything else. Let him get on the bus.”

“But the policy…” The fat uncle obviously wanted to say something else but held back after Miss Mi murmured something in his ear.

If he had known that the head of school was involved, he wouldn’t have said a single word, even if their entire family had boarded the bus.

The head of school had instructed that Ning Tiantian was to be well-taken care of.

As for what it entailed, it basically meant tolerating her behavior, no matter how unruly or unreasonable it was.

This incident was quickly forgotten as Tiantian sat beside Li Yanmo, next to a window seat. Tiantian only had eyes for Li Yanmo; he was all she could see and hear, no matter how busy or noisy the surroundings were.

As the morning sunlight filtered in through the window, it bathed his youthful visage in an orange glow. His well-defined brows and nose bridge, his long and curly eyelashes–what a beautiful boy he was. He looked so delectable that Tiantian wished she could take a bite out of him.

Soon after, Tiantian’s tummy started rumbling.

Covering her tummy, Tiantian cracked a sheepish smile at Li Yanmo.

“You’re hungry?” Li Yanmo glanced at her after he heard the rumbling of her tummy. Tiantian nodded shyly in response. “I remember you had two big bowls at breakfast.”

Why did she get hungry again so soon?

“Inky, don’t worry about me putting on weight and becoming incompatible with you.”

Li Yanmo was surprised.

As usual, Ning Tiantian knew what was on his mind even before he had voiced it out.

Unzipping her little school bag, she took out various snacks and extended them to Li Yanmo. “Do you want some, Inky?”

There were Copico, Oreos, fries, chocolate, fruit jellies, and more.

“Don’t tell me the whole bag is filled with snacks.” Li Yanmo facepalmed. Did this kid bring the entire supermart?

Ning Tiantian nodded quickly as she pushed a bunch of fries into her mouth. “Yes! Yes!”

Li Yanmo couldn’t stand looking at this any longer. Ketchup was smudged all over her lips, and her mouth was stuffed full of fries.

“Aren’t you going to be late for school if you’re dropping me off at preschool?”

She vaguely recalled that Inky had a habit of leaving for school very early in the morning. As for how early, she had no idea. At any rate, Inky was gone by the time she woke up.

Li Yanmo glanced at his wristwatch. It was already 8. Shaking his head, he told her, “I won’t be late. At most, I’ll just miss the self-study period.”